Politics and World Events Latest Topicshttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/forum/9-politics-and-world-events/Politics and World Events Latest TopicsenPrivacy Policy Changedhttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/57301-privacy-policy-changed/
Can someone explain to me what all this privacy policies change means? All of a sudden I’m getting different emails from different places informing me about it.
]]>57301Thu, 24 May 2018 11:05:26 +0000Would you pay thousands to look like THIS.... [merged]http://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/55159-would-you-pay-thousands-to-look-like-this-merged/British surgery addict spends almost $170,000 to look like real-life Ken doll

Rodrigo Alves' near-death experience won't put a stop to his quest for plastic perfection. The 30-year-old Londoner, who has had 20 cosmetic procedures, said he would probably have more surgeries in the future.

He also goes for Botox twice a year and takes collagen tablets, anti-water retention pills and hair growth supplements, SWNS reported.

Alves, who lives in London and describes himself as a “worldwide socialite” on his Instagram page, said Barbie’s beau looks like the “ideal man.”

“With Ken everything is exactly in the right place, his back, his biceps, his jawline,” he told SWNS. “So of course I’d like to look like him. He’s perfect!”

But Alves’ quest for a life in plastic nearly killed him.

In January, he developed an infection after a doctor injected a gel into his arms and had to spend three weeks in a Brazilian hospital.

“It nearly got to the stage where they were talking about chopping my arm off. The doctors said if the bacteria had gone to my heart I would have died,” he said.

He eventually recovered and returned to England, where he saw a therapist who said he had body dysmorphia, a body-image disorder characterized by an obsession with one's appearance and imperfections, whether real or imagined.

“Hopefully the therapy will help me not to have this desire to keep enhancing and changing myself and having fillers. It's all very painful,” he said.

Thirty-year-old Londoner Rodrigo Alves admits he will likely have more cosmetic operations.

Even though his near-death experience has made him think twice about going under the knife, Alves admits he will likely have more surgeries.

“I haven’t yet found an answer to my addiction. It’s just so difficult to control,” he said. “I’d like to make my shoulders bigger, my bum rounder, my pecs larger and probably another nose job,” he said.

]]>55159Thu, 01 May 2014 05:08:20 +0000North Koreahttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/55964-north-korea/
North Korea is mad again

]]>56649Tue, 12 Dec 2017 23:37:30 +0000MASS Brawl at Ascot.http://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/57241-mass-brawl-at-ascot/
This is the moment a mass brawl erupted and onlookers were left running for cover as racegoers fought at Ascot. Just one week after up to 50 people were seen fighting at Goodwood, the horse-racing world was once again rocked by violence.

Despite the Bank Holiday incident sparking an attempt to increase security at Ascot, warring spectators were caught on film throwing punches yesterday.

Women tried to break up fights between men wearing three-piece suits as security staff struggled to keep the brawlers apart. The trouble then spilled out from the racing venue and up to the high street, according to witnesses.

Ascot communications manager Ashley Morton-Hunte confirmed there were two head injuries resulting from the fight. Both were treated at the scene. 'Sadly, an irresponsible minority can impact on the majority. We take all anti-social behaviour seriously. We can and did eject people.' According to witnesses at Goodwood, the brawlers had been drinking all day before the violence erupted.

Shocking behaviour but I laughed when someone on the DM said "Ed Sheeren looked like he was getting a good pasting".

]]>57241Sun, 13 May 2018 16:48:19 +0000Spain...destroying themselves from the insidehttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/54122-spaindestroying-themselves-from-the-inside/
Ok, it´s a little bit complicated to explain what is going on (I have to go to the supermarket!), but I have the feeling this can´t be happening only in spain...new ideas that are not accepted by the political party, and create huge internal problems...

anyways, it´s really entertaining to watch, I have to admit it

]]>54122Sat, 01 Oct 2016 09:49:45 +0000Terrifying Moment Lion Savagely Attacks An Elderly Manhttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/57206-terrifying-moment-lion-savagely-attacks-an-elderly-man/Elderly man is dragged away and attacked by a lion in front of screaming onlookers after wandering into its enclosure at wildlife park

An elderly man was mauled by a huge male lion at a wildlife park in a shocking incident caught on film.

The clip, believed to have been filmed on Saturday at the Marakele Predator Park in South Africa, shows the man entering the lion's enclosure.

Almost instantly the big cat spots the elderly man, believed to be the owner of the park, and gives chase.

Witnesses watch in horror as the animal pursues the man towards the metal door to the pen at the park nine kilometers from Thabazimbi.

Onlookers scream as he is dragged back by the beast. The hulking animal claws at the elderly man - who goes limp in its grip.

The lion drags the man farther into the enclosure, into some bushes and onlookers scream for help.

Then, suddenly, a shot rings out - thought to be from a warden's gun. The lion drops its prey and runs for cover. It is unclear if the man is dead.

A woman is heard howling in horror at what she has just witnessed while another man is heard shouting 'get a rifle'.The elderly man remains in a critical condition.

The big cat has reportedly been put down in the wake of the grisly attack.

Thanks to him wandering into the cat's enclosure, that beautiful creature is now dead for simply doing what comes naturally. STUPID, STUPID Man. 😠

This is so addictive! And being a Historian myself ( for real lol) I love all the amazing footage that can be found on YT. It’s like looking through a window into the past, watching everyday life. This is truly precious.

]]>57193Fri, 27 Apr 2018 07:59:44 +0000Dreadful attack in Torontohttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/57191-dreadful-attack-in-toronto/
To all of our wonderful Canadian members here, so incredible sorry and angry that your country has gone through this cowardly disgusting attack. Completely heart breaking and horrible in every way. These cowardly acts now happens too often and destroys far too many innocent lives. Hope everyone on the forum is safe.

]]>57191Thu, 26 Apr 2018 11:33:01 +0000Lawyer sets himself on fire to decry pollutionhttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/57172-lawyer-sets-himself-on-fire-to-decry-pollution/Prominent Lawyer in Fight for Gay Rights Dies After Setting Himself on Fire in Prospect Park

A lawyer nationally known for being a champion of gay rights died after setting himself on fire in Prospect Park in Brooklyn early Saturday morning and leaving a note exhorting people to lead less selfish lives as a way to protect the planet, the police said.

The remains of the lawyer, David S. Buckel, 60, were found near Prospect Park West in a field near baseball diamonds and the main loop used by joggers and bikers.

Mr. Buckel left a note in a shopping cart not far from his body and also emailed it to several news media outlets, including The New York Times.

Mr. Buckel was the lead attorney in Brandon v. County of Richardson, in which a Nebraska county sheriff was found liable for failing to protect Brandon Teena, a transgender man who was murdered in Falls City, Neb. Hilary Swank won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Mr. Teena in the 1999 movie “Boys Don’t Cry.”

While serving as marriage project director and senior counsel at Lambda Legal, a national organization that fights for the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Mr. Buckel was the strategist behind important same-sex marriage cases in New Jersey and Iowa.

Friends said that after he left the organization, Mr. Buckel became involved in environmental causes, which he alluded to in his note as the reason he decided to end his life by self-immolation with fossil fuels.

“Pollution ravages our planet, oozing inhabitability via air, soil, water and weather,” he wrote in the email sent to The Times. “Most humans on the planet now breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result — my early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves.”

In his note, which was received by The Times at 5:55 a.m., Mr. Buckel discussed the difficulty of improving the world even for those who make vigorous efforts to do so.

Privilege, he said, was derived from the suffering of others.

“Many who drive their own lives to help others often realize that they do not change what causes the need for their help,” Mr. Buckel wrote, adding that donating to organizations was not enough.

Noting that he was privileged with “good health to the final moment,” Mr. Buckel said he wanted his death to lead to increased action. “Honorable purpose in life invites honorable purpose in death,” he wrote.

The police said Mr. Buckel was pronounced dead at 6:30 a.m. in what they said was a suicide.

Susan Sommer, a former attorney for Lambda Legal who is now the general counsel for the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, said Mr. Buckel was “one of the architects of the freedom to marry and marriage equality movement.”

“He deserves tremendous thanks for recognizing this was in many ways at the heart of what it meant to be gay for many Americans and making it a priority,” she said. “I learned so much from him about the emotional center of what it means for a gay person not to be able to have all the protections for the person they love and that it’s worth fighting for.”

Catherine Varous, a neighbor of Mr. Buckel’s, said he was very active in gardening, and together they worked on the Greenest Block in Brooklyn competition.

She said she often saw Mr. Buckel and his partner at the Park Slope Food Co-op and a farmer’s market. “He was the quieter of the two,” she said, referring to Mr. Buckel. “He was definitely more serious.”

Amy Orr, a kindergarten teacher who lives in the neighborhood, was out for her regular weekend jog at about 6:25 a.m. when she saw police officers standing over something that was smoldering.

She said she first “thought it was a pile of garbage because of the shopping cart” but then she saw the outline of a human body.

Runners and bicyclists continued to pass. But as more police officers and firefighters gathered, they all looked “dumbfounded,” Ms. Orr said. “Nobody could believe it.”

By 11 a.m., the authorities had removed Mr. Buckel’s body, leaving a blackened patch and a circular indentation around which parks officials placed two orange cones.

The grim scene stood in stark contrast to the rest of the park, which brimmed with activity. Several youth baseball games continued nearby and participants in PurpleStride, a walk dedicated to ending pancreatic cancer, strode along the bike path with runners and joggers.

The field where Mr. Buckel died would ordinarily be filled with activity, too. Warren Beishir, a graphic designer, said it was used for volleyball, soccer and barbecuing.

Mr. Beishir sat across from the field under a tree with his wife, Susan Stawicki, their 2-year-old daughter and their neighbors. They live across from the park and were awakened by sirens and flashing lights.

“How do you do that to yourself? It’s a terrible way to go, and I don’t want to think about it after today,” Mr. Beishir said.

]]>57143Sat, 14 Apr 2018 02:46:05 +0000Last Northern white male rhino dieshttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/57038-last-northern-white-male-rhino-dies/
This is heart-breaking. Humans should be ashamed of themselves letting such a beautiful species become extinct. RIP Sudan the white rhino. Your species deserved better than this. Hunters, poachers and people that profit from the killing of endangered animals are the scum of the Earth

The world's last male northern white rhino,Sudan, has died after "age-related complications," researchers announced Tuesday, saying he "stole the heart of many with his dignity and strength."

A statement from the Ol Pejeta Conservancy inKenyasaid the 45-year-old rhino was euthanized on Monday after his condition "worsened significantly" and he was no longer able to stand. His muscles and bones had degenerated and his skin had extensive wounds.

The rhino had been part of an ambitious effort to save the subspecies from extinction with the help of the two surviving females.

"He was a great ambassador for his species and will be remembered for the work he did to raise awareness globally of the plight facing not only rhinos, but also the many thousands of other species facing extinction as a result of unsustainable human activity," said the conservancy's CEO, Richard Vigne.

Sudan was something of a celebrity, attracting thousands of visitors. Last year he was listed as "The Most Eligible Bachelor in the World" on theTinderdating app in a fundraising effort.

The last male northern white rhino had been born in Sudan, taken to a Czech zoo and then transferred to Kenya in 2009. Rangers caring for Sudan described him as gentle.

The rhino "significantly contributed to survival of his species as he sired two females," the conservancy said. "Additionally, his genetic material was collected yesterday and provides a hope for future attempts at reproduction of northern white rhinos through advanced cellular technologies."

]]>57038Tue, 20 Mar 2018 07:18:29 +0000Lynch mob take selfies before beating him to death for stealinghttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/56938-lynch-mob-take-selfies-before-beating-him-to-death-for-stealing/
Lynch mob take selfies as they tie up tribesman before beating him to death for 'stealing' in attack that has sparked outrage in India

Images show the tribesman, identified as Madhu, with his arms tied around waist

Members of lynch mob took selfies in front of the man who they accused of theft

He was then beaten, local media say, and later died before he reached hospital

1. Mob death for stealing ???? Are they serious ? In all kind of respect to other countries legal system, but still it is no fustification for stealing to get a death penalty.

2. Selfies before his death. This is the most disturbing behaviour ever. I dont complain about social media since it has also advantages and depends on how you use it, but this is against all morality and ethics.

]]>56938Fri, 23 Feb 2018 20:55:41 +0000A boar thrown to the dogs and ripped to pieceshttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/57050-a-boar-thrown-to-the-dogs-and-ripped-to-pieces/
Thrown to the dogs and ripped to pieces: Fury over ‘barbaric’ death match between attack hounds and a boar in Vietnam

Omg, Imagine listening to that child scream for 8 hours with nowhere to escape...

]]>56909Thu, 15 Feb 2018 16:28:04 +000050 years since disgusting My Lai massacrehttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/57024-50-years-since-disgusting-my-lai-massacre/
I watched a 2 hour documentary on this tonight on the History Channel and it is one of the most shameful disregard for human life and humanity we could imagine. The saying that " All is fair in love and war" is one I never can remotely agree with. This is something that should never be excused or forgotten

Early morning on March 16, 1968, helicopters carrying U.S. soldiers flew into a tiny village on the eastern side of South Vietnam, bordering the South China Sea. They'd arrived by a series of hamlets, known as My Lai, expecting to find a booby-trapped stronghold of their enemy, the Viet Cong. Instead, all they saw were noncombatants: women, children, elderly men. Many of them were preparing for breakfast.

The Americans, about 100 soldiers from the Army's Americal division, proceeded to massacre them. Over the next several hours, the civilians in My Lai (pronounced "Me Lie") and an adjacent settlement were shot and thrown in ditches. The body count: 504 people from more than 240 families. Some women were raped. Huts and homes were burned. Even the livestock was destroyed.

It was one of the worst American military crimes in history and still pierces the collective conscience of Vietnam War veterans. On Friday, an organization called the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee is scheduled to hold a vigilin Lafayette Square across from the White House to acknowledge the American war crimes at My Lai.

Right after the attack, the soldiers — who had been told by their superiors the night before that everyone they'd see would be a Viet Cong guerrilla or sympathizer — kept quiet about what they'd done. For more than a year and a half, the public wouldn't know about the atrocity. Top military officials initially tried to keep a lid on the killings and commanders even touted the mission to the press as a tactical feat. A United Press International wire service account published in newspapers March 16 reported that U.S. infantrymen "tangled with Communist forces threatening the northern city of Quang Ngai Saturday and U.S. spokesmen reported 128 guerrillas slain in the bitter fighting." But a few paragraphs later, the article, unwittingly, contained an ominous foreshadowing: "Details of the fighting near Quang Ngai were sketchy."

Soon, a government whistleblower and a promising journalist would expose the atrocity. In early 1969, Ronald Ridenhour, a veteran from Arizona, wrote a letter to the White House, Pentagon, State Department and numerous members of Congress, revealing his conversations with soldiers who participated or saw the attack. Ridenhour's letter included details that made the allegations credible and worthy of investigation, including map coordinates of My Lai, witness names and the identities of the perpetrators, according toa congressional probe.

Ridenhour's letters sparked a military investigation. By early September 1969, First Lt. William Laws Calley Jr., a 26-year-old college dropout from Miami who'd served as a platoon leader in the attack, was charged with the premeditated murder of 109 civilians. But the military only released the fact that Calley had been accused of murdering an unspecified number of people. Without knowing the magnitude of his crimes, the New York Times, for instance, only ran a four-paragraph Associated Press article on his arrest, running it on page 14. The press information officer "declined to give details of the case other than to say that the incident occurred in March, 1968, in Vietnam, and that the charge involves the deaths of more than one civilian," according to the article.

Shortly after Calley had been charged, Seymour Hersh, a freelance reporter and former news aide to antiwar presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, learned about My Lai from a lawyer opposed to the war. But he only got vague outlines. He started sniffing around. Eventually, he approached a Pentagon source. As he recalled in aNew Yorker piece three years ago, the official slapped his hand against his knee, and said, "That boy Calley didn't shoot anyone higher than this."

Now Hersh had what he needed to crack the story wide open. Eventually, he found that tiny Times article noting Calley's full name and arrest. Then he visited Calley at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was being held. Incredibly, the Army allowed Hersh to read and takes note from Calley's classified charging sheet — the document that showed Calley had been accused of killing 109 people. Even more incredible was that when Hersh completed his expose and took it to Life and Look magazines, the editors rejected him. So Hersh took his story to the Dispatch News Service, which he described to the New Yorker as "a small antiwar news agency" in Washington. The story broke on the wires Nov. 12, 1969, and appeared in newspapers the next day.

With a dateline from Fort Benning, Ga., Hersh began his story this way:

"Lt. William L. Calley Jr., 26 years old, is a mild-mannered, boyish-looking Vietnam combat veteran with the nickname 'Rusty.' The Army is completing an investigation of charges that he deliberately murdered at least 109 Vietnamese civilians in a search-and-destroy mission in March 1968 in a Viet Cong stronghold known as 'Pinkville.' "

Calley told Hersh he was merely following orders. His attorney, George W. Latimer, a former judge on the U.S. Court of Military Appeals, ridiculed the accusations against his client. "This is one case that should never have been brought," Latimer said. "Whatever killing there was in a firefight in connection with the operation. You can't afford to guess whether a civilian is a Viet Cong or not. Either they shoot you or you shoot them."

Deep into the scoop, Hersh, who would win a Pulitzer Prize, wrote that Calley, only 5-foot-3, "seems slightly bewildered and hurt by the charges against him. He says he wants nothing more than to be cleared and return to the Army." He also told Hersh: "I know this sounds funny, but I like the Army ... and I don't want to do anything to hurt it."

Hersh's article prompted front page stories in The Washington Post and the New York Times, and contributed to the swelling anger against President Richard Nixon, who was less than a year into his first term and had earlier that month pleaded for nationwide solidarity to support the war in his famous"Silent Majority" speech. Coincidentally, two days after the publication of Hersh's story, at least a quarter of a million people gathered by the Washington Monument to demand an end to the Vietnam War. "It surpassed in size the civil rights March on Washington in 1964 and was easily the largest — and was perhaps the youngest — antiwar crowd ever assembled in the United States," The Post noted.

The massacre at My Lai, meanwhile, continued to make news. In early 1970, charges of trying to cover up the slaughter were brought against Maj. Gen. Samuel W. Koster, who'd served as the commanding general over the My Lai troops but was now the superintendent at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The news shocked the country. Numerous other officers were charged with concealing the killings, but the accusations against them — and Koster — were eventually dismissed. One brigade commander stood trial on coverup allegations, but was acquitted.

Calley was the only officer convicted of playing a direct role in the massacre. According to Hersh's account, eleven other men were charged with murder, maiming or assault with the intent to commit murder, but their cases either fizzled out before trial or they were acquitted.

During his trial in early 1971, Calley argued that he was merely following orders - echoing the same lines of the Nazis during the Nuremberg trials. But an Army jury of six men, five of whom served in combat, rejected that defense. On March 29, 1971, Calley was found guilty of the premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians. He was sentenced to life in prison, but Nixon intervened and ordered that he serve under house arrest in a reduced sentence.

But Hersh was not done chronicling these crimes. In early 1972, Hersh compiled all of his research and wrote a mammoth two-part series for the New Yorker on the military's investigation into My Lai. One soldier, Terry Reid of Milwaukee, described to Hersh what he'd seen when the onslaught erupted.

"As soon as they started opening up, it hit me that it was insanity. I walked to the rear. Pandemonium broke loose. It sounded insane — machine guns, grenades. One of the guys walked back, and I remember him saying, 'We got sixty women, kids, and some old men.' "

Hersh also reported that more than 40 soldiers who spoke to him or government investigators recalled hearing, in advance of the operation, "a specific order to kill civilians." He quoted one soldier, Larry G. Holmes, who said: "We had three hamlets that we had to search and destroy. They told us they ... had dropped leaflets and stuff and everybody was supposed to be gone. Nobody was supposed to be there. If anybody is there, shoot them."

Calley was not done with My Lai, either. He kept appealing his conviction and ultimately took his case into the civilian court system. By November 1974, three months after Nixon resigned, a federal-district court judge ordered Calley's release, having ruled earlier that the enormous publicity surrounding his case prevented a fair trial. Finally freed, Calley went on to work for his father-in-law's jewelry store in Columbus, Georgia, and, according to Hersh, spent the following years, "offering self-serving interviews to journalists willing to pay for them."

In August 2009, at a local Kiwanis club near the military base in Georgia where he'd been court-martialed, Calley finally delivered his first public apology. A Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reporterchronicled the dramatic moment.

"There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai," Calley told the Kiwanis members. "I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry."

But, during a short question-and-answer session, he also couldn't resist rationalizing what he'd done, either.

"If you are asking why I did not stand up to them when I was given the orders," Calley said, "I will have to say that I was a second lieutenant getting orders from my commander and I followed them — foolishly, I guess."

A primary school in Walsall has accidentally shown nine and 10-year-old pupils pornographic images, much to the shock and anger of parents.

Croft Academy was screening a Paddington Bear movie for the class during "Golden Time" (essentially free time for the schoolchildren). But a "failure in the filters" allowed a pornography pop-up to be viewed by the children. The movie was being streamed by the teacher.

Parents were later sent a letter by the school, which was obtained by Express and Star. Principal Mark Davis addressed parents and said the school was investigating how the footage appeared on screen. "School has strict measures in place to prevent such images from appearing," Davis told parents in his letter.

One parent said they were disgusted by the glitch. "Parents are annoyed that we were made aware by giving a letter to the Year Five students, who can read, so it is not only wrong to see it but they have to repeat it," the unnamed parent said according to Express and Star.

"We asked a member of staff if they had even watched the film beforehand and they had not. You do not expect to have it in a school, you try your best to prevent it at home. Some children take it with a pinch of salt but other kids are traumatised."

The school has since released a press release on its website. "On Friday 25th January a member of staff was attempting to show an extract from the movie Paddington to children in year 5 when a deeply inappropriate pornographic pop up image appeared on the screen," the statement reads.

"The school has web content filtering software designed to stop incidents such as this and at present it is unclear why it failed to work on this occasion. Neither the school nor the academy trust will be making any further comment whilst investigations are ongoing."

On June 14, 2014, the State Council of China published an ominous-sounding document called "Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System". In the way of Chinese policy documents, it was a lengthy and rather dry affair, but it contained a radical idea. What if there was a national trust score that rated the kind of citizen you were?

Imagine a world where many of your daily activities were constantly monitored and evaluated: what you buy at the shops and online; where you are at any given time; who your friends are and how you interact with them; how many hours you spend watching content or playing video games; and what bills and taxes you pay (or not). It's not hard to picture, because most of that already happens, thanks to all those data-collecting behemoths like Google, Facebook and Instagram or health-tracking apps such as Fitbit. But now imagine a system where all these behaviours are rated as either positive or negative and distilled into a single number, according to rules set by the government. That would create your Citizen Score and it would tell everyone whether or not you were trustworthy. Plus, your rating would be publicly ranked against that of the entire population and used to determine your eligibility for a mortgage or a job, where your children can go to school - or even just your chances of getting a date.

A futuristic vision of Big Brother out of control? No, it's already getting underway in China, where the government is developing the Social Credit System (SCS) to rate the trustworthiness of its 1.3 billion citizens. The Chinese government is pitching the system as a desirable way to measure and enhance "trust" nationwide and to build a culture of "sincerity". As the policy states, "It will forge a public opinion environment where keeping trust is glorious. It will strengthen sincerity in government affairs, commercial sincerity, social sincerity and the construction of judicial credibility."

I'm a lover of most animals, but as a Shih Tzu owner I found this so painful to read.

Thank heaven's the sick bitch has been sacked and has been exposed for her cruel treatment of dogs.

Disgusting!

]]>56874Mon, 05 Feb 2018 21:48:53 +0000Martin Shkreli sentenced to 7 years in prisonhttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/50732-martin-shkreli-sentenced-to-7-years-in-prison/Hedge funder buys rights to drug used by AIDS patients and raises price from $13.50 to $750 per pill

A hedge fund trader is at the centre of mounting controversy after the pharmaceutical company he bought raised overnight the cost of a life-saving treatment for people with Aids and weakened immune systems from $13.50 per pill to $750.

The 5,000 per cent increase was enacted last month for Daraprim, known generically as pyrimethamine, by Turing Pharmaceuticals of New York, a start-up firm, shortly after it bought the rights to the drug. The firm is headed by Martin Shkreli.

Daraprim fights toxoplasmosis, the second most common food-borne disease, which can easily infect people whose immune systems have been weakened by AIDS, chemotherapy or pregnancy, according to the Centres for Disease Control. About 60 million people in the United States may carry the toxoplasma parasite.

Earlier this the month, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV

Medicine Association sent a joint letter to Turing calling the price increase for Daraprim “unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population”.

“Please help us improve public health by immediately implementing a rational and fair pricing strategy for pyrimethamine that keeps treatment for a potentially fatal condition accessible to our patients,” the letter said.

A Turing spokesman, Craig Rothenberg, told USA Today the company was working with hospitals and providers to get every patient covered. This includes free-of-charge options for uninsured patients.

Mr Rothenberg defended Daraprim's price, saying that the company will use the money it makes from sales to further research treatments for toxoplasmosis.

“There has been no innovation in dealing with toxoplasmosis,” he said. “That has been a long neglect in the patient community.”

Daraprim, which is also used to treat malaria, was first approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 1953 and has long been made by GlaxoSmithKline.

The New York Times said Glaxo sold United States marketing rights to CorePharma in 2010. Last year, Impax Laboratories agreed to buy Core and affiliated companies for $700m. In August, Impax sold Daraprim to Turing for $55m, a deal announced the same day Turing said it had raised $90m from Mr Shkreli and other investors.

Only a few years ago, Daraprim cost only about $1 a tablet, but the drug’s price rose sharply after CorePharma acquired it.

On Monday, Mr Shkreli told Bloomberg News that firms that had previously owned the rights to the drug had been "virtually giving it away". He added: "It is still under-priced compared to its peers."

]]>50732Mon, 21 Sep 2015 20:08:24 +0000There was such a big demonstration yesterday in Spain re Women Rights...http://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/56991-there-was-such-a-big-demonstration-yesterday-in-spain-re-women-rights/
Nobody expected the powerful demonstration in so many cities in Spain yesterday. Powerful and emotional.

And only a couple of weeks ago there were big demonstration from elderly people regarding their pension.

I've been doing several articles this past year on minorities and oppressed groups and ALL OF THEM are moving so strong!

I got an interview last week with a wonderfully interesting woman, expert on Social Economic and she told me something obvious: only if we join difficulties can we join solutions.

Gays, women, elderly, handicapped, ethnic minorities, immigrants... We all have to join! Whebver a gay put a woman down, he's giving power to those POWERFUL elites. Whenever a minority uses clichés to refer other groups....

I told @Jazzy Jan in a message a couple of days ago. I did a very long article on gypsies and learned so much from them. And I could relate to their feelings of inferiority because I felt it as gay. And women are told that as girls too. And so many people.

ENOUGH!

This has to be the revolution. Of empathy. Madonna's, REVOLUTION OF LOVE

California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, one of the leading voices behind the #MeToo movement, is facing accusations that she sexually harassed staffers — including one who said she fired him after he refused to play a game of spin the bottle with her.

David John Kernick, a former field representative for Garcia, said the Democratic lawmaker from Southern California approached him after a 2014 fundraiser at a whiskey bar and suggested that they play spin the bottle in her hotel room, according to a complaint filed Saturday with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Kernick said he was written up for insubordination after he questioned the appropriateness of Garcia’s suggestion and was fired two days later.

The complaint also says that it was “extremely stressful” working for Garcia, who represents Bell Gardens, Calif., and holds numerous leadership positions in the state legislature.

“Ms. Garcia was very disparaging to the staff and others, used vulgar language, discussed topics inappropriate for the workplace and showed herself to be very vindictive in nature,” the complaint says.

Kernick’s complaint is the latest in a series of sexual misconduct allegations against Garcia, who has denied that she behaved inappropriately

“Over the last weeks, there have been several claims accusing me of inappropriate conduct in my role as a California State legislator. In each case, these accusations are simply not true and are inconsistent with my personal value system and how I seek to conduct myself as an elected official,” Garcia said in a statement to The Washington Post. “I believe these accusations are part of a concerted effort to discredit my person and record as a legislator.”

The allegations began to surface on Feb. 8, when Politico reported on another former staffer’s accusation that Garcia had groped him.

Daniel Fierro told The Washington Post’s Derek Hawkins that Garcia approached him after an assembly softball game in 2014, squeezed his buttocks and tried to touch his crotch. He said Garcia was visibly intoxicated.

Fierro, who was 25 at the time, did not report the incident because he worried about the long-term consequences of accusing the powerful lawmaker of misconduct. Garcia heads the Legislative Women’s Caucus and also chairs the assembly’s Natural Resources Committee.

But in January, Fierro reported the incident to his former boss, state Assemblyman Ian Calderon (D-Whittier), who referred the matter to the assembly panel that is now investigating Garcia.

On Wednesday, attorney Dan Gilleon unveiled new sexual harassment allegations from four anonymous former staffers during a news conference on the steps of the state capitol in Sacramento, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The former staffers alleged that Garcia talked about her sex life in front of employees; drank alcohol at work; and told staffers that they were expendable, Gilleon told The Post.

Gilleon said his clients decided to come forward after Fierro went public with his allegations in January. He also said he is prepared to take legal action if there is any retaliation against his clients.

“They decided to come out not for themselves … but also to let everybody know what it was really like working for her,” Gilleon said. “Had Fierro not come out, my clients would not have talked.”

One of those clients is Kernick, who revealed his identity in the newly filed complaint.

Garcia has taken a voluntary, unpaid leave of absence and said she will address each of the allegations after the investigation is closed.

On Wednesday, she wrote on Facebook: “I will add that in order for legislators to accomplish all we want for the people of our districts and the people of California, we need talented staff who feel empowered to do their work. … I am confident I have consistently treated my staff fairly and respectfully.”

In her statement, Garcia said someone had hired a private investigator in an effort to smear her reputation.

Tenants at properties she owns reported to her last November that the private investigator had knocked on their doors asking questions about her ethics as a landlord, Garcia said. Former staffers also told her that they had received calls from the investigator asking if she was an abusive boss, or whether they would believe allegations that Garcia had committed a sexual misconduct and had problems with alcohol, she said.

(...)

Garcia was also among the dozens of “silence breakers” featured by Time magazine in December. “The Silence Breakers,” or those who spoke out against sexual assault and harassment, are Time’s Person of the Year for 2017.

“I didn’t know I was part of the story. That I was pictured and added to a timeline of this reckoning. It’s an awkwardly humbling experience, but I am proud of this work and the company I am in,” Garcia tweeted in response to her inclusion. She used the hashtags #MeToo and #WeSaidEnough.

Garcia also was a strong critic of male colleagues who had been accused of sexual misconduct.

“I believe the victims who’ve broken their silence on the actions of Mendoza & Dababneh,” Garcia tweeted in December, referring to state Sen. Tony Mendoza and Assemblyman Matt Dababneh. “They have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Let alone it’s multiple victims who’ve come forward. Both members should resign.”

A man has appeared in court for stealing part of a $4.5million (£3.2million) statue during a party at a museum. Michael Rohana, 24, is alleged to have taken a selfie with the statue before snapping part of it off while it was on display at a museum in Philadelphia.

According to arrest papers, he was at an Ugly Sweater Party at the Franklin Institute on December 21 when he went into the ‘Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor’ exhibit. Authorities say Rohana took photos while posing next to a statue known as ‘The Cavalryman,’ and then snapped off the statue’s left thumb. Museum staff noticed the missing thumb January 8, and the FBI traced it to Rohana five days later. It is unclear if he has legal representation.

A friend told investigators that Rohana posted a picture of a finger on his Snapchat the day after the party.

He was also seen on CCTV taking two friends on a tour of the room where the statue was. They left soon after the selfie was taken, but Rohana appeared to linger. Agents visited his home in Bear, Delaware, and asked him ‘if he had anything in his possession which he wanted to turn over to the FBI’. He took the agent into his bedroom and ‘retreived the stolen thumb from the top right drawer of a desk.’

A museum spokeswoman says the statue will be repaired. She says a security contractor did not follow standard procedures the night of the alleged theft. The statue, which is one of many that date back to 209BC is on display at the museum until March 4.

Israeli police chiefs will recommend to the country's attorney general that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on corruption charges, according to reports in local media.

The Times of Israelreported Wednesday that police chiefs, including the general commissioner of Israel's police force, were in "unanimous agreement" that Netanyahu should be indicted for allegedly accepting bribes and receiving lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors, including Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

Any recommendation for an indictment would be sent to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who will decide whether to indict the prime minister.

In aFacebook video Netanyahu acknowledged that the police would likely move to recommend his indictment, but dismissed the allegations against him and predicted Mandelblit would not move to press charges.

"The State of Israel is a state of law. The law says that the one to determine whether there is evidence against the prime minister is the attorney general and he consults with the state attorney. The state prosecutor recently said in the Knesset that about half of the police's recommendations end with nothing," Netanyahu said Wednesday.

"So do not be nervous ... I am sure that at the end of the day the competent legal bodies will come to one conclusion, to the simple truth: There is nothing," he added.

Netanyahu's current tenure as Israel's prime minister began in 2009; he previously held the office from 1996 to 1999. He was reelected in 2015 with just over 23 percent of the vote share, with his Likud party winning 30 seats in Israel's parliament.

The right-leaning Israeli leader is a top ally ofPresident Trump, who last year declared that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The move was widely popular with Netanyahu and Israelis, but inflamed tensions with Palestine and Arab countries across the Middle East.

And it's not just the social care bill backtracking (never mind she kept trotting out her "building a fairer Britain" rethoric since her appointment last July)

It's also the appalling and evasive way she's shown in dealing with Brexit

Happy for Corbyn

]]>55675Fri, 09 Jun 2017 16:25:10 +0000USA professor says Australia is not a country !http://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/56900-usa-professor-says-australia-is-not-a-country/
This has us laughing in Australia

American professor almost fails student, saying Australia is a not a country

A US university professor has been fired after she penalised student Ashley Arnold’s assignment because she didn’t believe Australia was a real country.

AN online adjunct professor incorrectly told a student that Australia isn’t a country and gave her a borderline failing grade, prompting Southern New Hampshire University to replace the instructor.

Buzzfeed Newsreported that the 27-year-old student in Idaho was assigned to compare American social norms to that of another country.

The student, Ashley Arnold, chose to study social media use in Australia, but the professor gave her a zero on that portion of the assignment, saying Australia is only a continent, and not a country.

Ms Arnold wrote back to her professor explaining that Australia is actually both a country and a continent.

But the professor insisted she had been right, replying, “Australia is a continent; it is not a country. That error made it nearly impossible for you to accurately complete your week 2 research outline correctly”, she replied.

“I want you to understand that any error in a project can invalidate the entire research project,” the professor told Arnold in her email. “Research is like dominoes, if you accidentally knock over one piece the entire set will also fall.”

Ms Arnold even sent her professor a link to the Australian Government’s “about Australia” page.

Finally, the professor re-marked the paper giving Ms Arnold a B+, and acknowledging the misunderstanding.

But university officials told local station WMUR-TV that the instructor has since been replaced following an investigation into the matter.

In a statement released on Twitter, the university said it deeply regrets the interaction between the professor and the student, confirms that the supposed educational institution understands Australian geography, and wishes athletes from Australia good luck in the Olympic Games.

]]>56900Sun, 11 Feb 2018 22:54:11 +0000Mystery of the Beaumont children.http://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/56860-mystery-of-the-beaumont-children/
This story is gripping the whole of Australia today as dig for children's remains begin.

Beaumont children search continues to capture the nation 52 years after their disappearance

It's one of Australia's most enduring mysteries — the disappearance of the Beaumont children.

On Australia Day of 1966, Jane, 9, Arnna, 7, and Grant, 4, left their Somerton Park home in Adelaide for an unsupervised day at the beach, but they never came home.

Witnesses come forward

In the days following the children's disappearance, crowds of people gathered to watch police in their search.

Volunteers helped police in what was the largest scale search in South Australia's history.

The beach was scoured, drains were flushed and hundreds of witnesses came forward.

Several witnesses provided a description of the children being seen with a tall, tanned, thin-faced man, with short blond hair.

Although statements from the Beaumont parents reported the children had left home that morning with six shillings and sixpence, a shopkeeper at a Glenelg bakery recalled Jane buying cakes and a meat pie with a one pound note.

A composite image sketch of the man was produced with hopes of identifying.

Clairvoyant flown in to help

November 8, 1966

Dutch clairvoyant Gerard Croiset was flown to Adelaide nine months after the children disappeared to assist with investigations.

His trip was funded by a local businessman, but Mr Croiset's insights provided no real answers.

A hotel has banned YouTubers and Instagram stars - after a 22-year-old YouTuber asked for a five-night free stay and broke down in tears when she was bluntly refused.

The issue started when Elle Darby, a UK-based social media influencer, with 87,000 YouTube subscribers and 76,000 Instagram followers, reached out to the owner of The White Moose Café, Paul Stenson, asking if he was interested in a “possible collaboration.”

In an email to the Dublin hotel, Darby wrote: “I work as a social media influencer, mainly lifestyle, beauty & travel based."

Darby then included her social media reach before continuing:

“My partner and I are planning to come to Dublin for an early Valentine’s Day weekend from Feb 8th to 12th to explore the area.

“As I was searching for places to stay, I came across your stunning hotel and would love to feature you in my YouTube videos/dedicated Instagram stories/posts to bring traffic to your hotel and recommend others to book up in return for free accommodation.”

Ending her email, Darby mentioned that she had organised a similar collaboration with Universal Orlando in Florida last year and “it’s been amazing for them!”

Stenson responded to Darby’s request, publicly, on The White Moose Cafe Facebook page - in a message that read:

“Dear Social Influencer (I know your name but apparently it’s not important to use names),

“Thank you for your email looking for free accommodation in return for exposure. It takes a lot of balls to send an email like that, if not much self-respect and dignity.

“If I let you stay here in return for a feature in a video, who is going to pay the staff who look after you? Who is going to pay the housekeepers who clean your room?

“The waiters who serve you breakfast? The receptionist who checks you in? Who is going to pay for the light and heat you use during your stay?

Continuing, Stenson asks: “Maybe I should tell my staff they will be featured in your video in lieu of receiving payment for work carried out while you’re in residence?”

The message concludes: “P.S. The answer is no.”

However, although Stenson attempted to black-out Darby’s contact information in the message he posted to Facebook, social media users were quick to identify the YouTuber as Darby - and began to attack her with negative comments about her request.

The negative backlash eventually led Darby to upload a YouTube video responding to the controversy, in which she breaks down from the embarrassment, anger, and humiliation she felt.

In the 17-minute video, titled “I was exposed (SO embarrassing), the influencer emotionally insists she got in contact with Stenson with “nothing but the purest intentions” before explaining:

“As a 22-year-old girl, who’s running her own business from her home, I don’t feel like I did anything wrong.”

Darby also explains she does not know why the hotel owner decided to post her email, stating: “I don’t really know what their intent was - it was just malicious” and that since his post, she has received countless comments calling her a “disgusting freeloader.”

However, since the 22-year-old's heartfelt response was uploaded to YouTube, it appears the Dublin hotel has faced their own backlash following the controversy.

In a recent post to the Facebook page in response to the video, Stenson declared in all capital letters: “All bloggers banned from our business.”

“Following the backlash received after asking an unidentified blogger to pay for a hotel room, I have taken the decision to ban all bloggers from our hotel and cafe,” he wrote - before denying that he had ever exposed Darby, and “the sense of entitlement is just too strong in the blogging community.”

And on The White Moose Cafe Snapchat, Stenson said the controversy just "puts into question the authenticity of influencer marketing," because "She would have spoken nicely about the hotel only because she was getting it for free."

________________________________-

Big Hands Up to this hotel for this reply !!!!

They just did the right decision. I also know some "influencers"....Jesus how arrogant some of them are...My bf works for a big fashion brand, even they are pissed by influencers too.

]]>56803Fri, 19 Jan 2018 15:03:47 +0000German scientists involved in toxic diesel fume tests on humanshttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/56843-german-scientists-involved-in-toxic-diesel-fume-tests-on-humans/http://www.dw.com/en/german-scientists-involved-in-toxic-diesel-fume-tests-on-humans/a-42346854
]]>56843Mon, 29 Jan 2018 14:44:49 +0000Drinking untreated water, the new fashion. It costs 60 dollars!http://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/56804-drinking-untreated-water-the-new-fashion-it-costs-60-dollars/
So now some rich stupid people from Sylicon Valley and such consider untreated water as rich and alive instead of the treated one. It is the dangerous new fashion, along milk untreated.

Silicon Valley is developing an obsession with untreated, unfiltered water, according to The New York Times.

But a food-poisoning expert says that the trend is dangerous and could be deadly.

"Raw" water can spread bacteria and diseases including cholera, E. coli, Hepatitis A, and Giardia.

When food-safety expert Bill Marler sawThe New York Times' trend pieceon Silicon Valley's recent obsession with raw water, he thought he was reading a headline from The Onion.

According to The Times, demand for unfiltered water is skyrocketing as tech-industry insiders develop a taste for water that hasn't been treated, to prevent the spread of bacteria or other contaminants.

In San Francisco, "unfiltered, untreated, unsterilized spring water" is selling for as much as $60.99 for a 2.5 gallon jug. Startups dedicated to untreated water are popping up. People — includingstartup Juicero's cofounder Doug Evans— are gathering gallons of untreated water from natural springs to bring to Burning Man.

Tourmaline Spring sells an untreated water as "sacred, living water."Tourmaline Spring

While Evans and other fans say raw water is perfect for those who are "extreme about health," Marler — a food-safety advocate and a lawyer — says the opposite is true.

"Almost everything conceivable that can make you sick can be found in water," Marler told Business Insider.

Unfiltered, untreated water, even from the cleanest streams, can contain animal feces, spreading Giardia, which has symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea and results in roughly 4,600 hospitalizations a year. Hepatitis A, which resulted in20 deaths in a California outbreakin 2017, can be spread through water if it isn't treated. E. coli, and cholera can also be transmitted via untreated water.

Because filtered, treated water has become the norm, Marler says, most people don't realize how dangerous s0-called raw water can be.

"The diseases that killed our great-grandparents were completely forgotten about," he said.

Most Americans don't personally know anyone who died of Hepatitis A or cholera, thanks to advances in technology and more stringent safety standards. As a result, they had a hard time realizing the risks involved in consuming untreated water.

On January 2, Business Insider'sMelia Robinsonvisited a San Francisco supermarket where a small company calledLive Watersells its untreated water. Rainbow Grocery was sold out of the Fountain of Truth Spring Water from Live Water, but a sign indicated a "slight price increase."

An empty container sits on a shelf in Rainbow Grocery, where Live Water is sold.Melia Robinson/Business Insider

Rainbow Grocery is expecting a new shipment of Live Water on January 4.Melia Robinson/Business Insider

The New York Times reported last week that Rainbow Grocery, a co-op in the city's Mission District, was selling a 2.5-gallon jug of the product from the startup Live Water for $36.99. As of Tuesday, the same jug costs $38.49 due to Live Water raising its prices.

The co-op also sells a decorative jug for Live Water for $60.99.

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

According to Marler, the raw-water trend is similar to people's obsession with raw milk or opposition to vaccines. While they lack scientific evidence, they're convinced that they are correct, in part because they have failed to see the repercussions of life without scientific advances.

"You can't stop consenting adults from being stupid," Marler said. "But we should at least try."

Melia Robinson contributed reporting.

]]>56804Fri, 19 Jan 2018 15:43:03 +00001000+ Danish youths charged for sharing child pornographyhttp://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?/topic/56786-1000-danish-youths-charged-for-sharing-child-pornography/
Over 1,000 Danish children and youngsters have been charged by the police with sharing a sex video involving a 15-year-old girl and several boys.

The many defendants face charges of distributing child pornography as part of a co-ordinated police effort that dates back to 2015 and goes by the name of ‘Operation Umbrella’.

“It’s a very big and complex case that has taken a long time to investigate, not least because of the large number of people charged,” said Lau Thygesen, a police inspector with North Zealand Police who is the lead investigator on the case.

“We’ve taken the case very seriously as it has had serious consequences for those involved because of how the material has been spread. And it must be stopped.”

The majority of those charged have shared the video a couple of times, but there are some who have shared it hundreds of times.

Serious ramifications
The police action is the largest in Danish history involving the sharing of offensive images of children.

Those found guilty face conditional sentences of around 20 days in prison, while the conviction will go on their criminal record for at least two years. They will also spend at least ten years on the child offence registry – which would bar them from working in jobs relating to children, such as teaching, sports coaching etc.

The case began in 2015 when Facebook received reports that two video sequences and an image containing sexual material involving individuals under the age of 18 were being shared among young people on the chat-platform Messenger.

The material continued to be shared until late 2017 before Facebook informed the US authorities, which passed the info on to Europol, which in turn alerted the Danish police.

The North Zealand police district had the highest number of people charged with 286, followed by Copenhagen (183), Copenhagen’s Western Suburbs (151) and East Jutland (77). There was even one person charged in Greenland.